Warmer Homes Scotland and ECO4: heating grants in Scotland

What is Warmer Homes Scotland?

Warmer Homes Scotland is the Scottish Government's national fuel poverty scheme. It funds heating and insulation for people living in, or at risk of, fuel poverty. Warmworks manages it for the Scottish Government, and the only way in is a referral from Home Energy Scotland. Home Energy Scotland says the support is worth £10,000 or more for eligible households.

Warmworks is a joint venture of Energy Saving Trust, Sureserve and Changeworks, and has run the scheme since it launched in 2015. The Scottish Government said in February 2026 that the scheme had helped more than 50,000 households (gov.scot).

Reliant Energy Solutions Ltd, which runs this site, is not part of Warmworks or Home Energy Scotland. To apply for Warmer Homes Scotland, go to Home Energy Scotland.

Who is eligible for Warmer Homes Scotland?

Warmer Homes Scotland is for homeowners and private-sector tenants in a home with a poor energy rating, where the household includes someone older, ill or on a passport benefit. You must meet all of these:

• You own your home or rent from a private-sector landlord.
• It is your main residence, and you have lived there for at least six months (unless you have an SR1, DS1500 or BASRiS form).
• Your home has a poor energy rating and meets the tolerable standard under the Housing (Scotland) Act 2006.
• Your home has a floor area of 230m2 or less (typically up to five bedrooms) and is in council tax band A to G.
• Your household includes someone aged 75 or over with no working heating, someone with a DS1500 or BASRiS certificate, or someone who gets at least one passport benefit, such as Universal Credit, Pension Credit Guarantee, Council Tax Reduction, Housing Benefit, Adult Disability Payment or Scottish Child Payment.

Source: Home Energy Scotland, Warmer Homes Scotland, which lists every passport benefit.

What can Warmer Homes Scotland fund?

Home Energy Scotland says Warmer Homes Scotland can fund:

• Wall insulation and loft insulation
• Draught-proofing
• Central heating: a new gas boiler, electric storage heaters or an air source heat pump
• A home renewables system

What you are offered depends on the Warmworks assessment of your home. In most cases the Scottish Government meets all the costs. In the rare cases where you need to contribute, you can apply for an interest-free loan.

How do I apply for Warmer Homes Scotland?

You cannot apply to Warmworks directly. Every application starts with Home Energy Scotland, which gives free, impartial advice and is funded by the Scottish Government.

1. Call Home Energy Scotland on 0808 808 2282, or use the online self-assessment on its Warmer Homes Scotland page.
2. An adviser checks whether you meet the criteria and, if you do, passes your details to Warmworks.
3. A Warmworks assessor visits to check your eligibility and look at the home.
4. Warmworks recommends the improvements that suit your home and keeps you updated on the application.

The online check is on Home Energy Scotland's Warmer Homes Scotland page.

Home Energy Scotland grant and loan

The Home Energy Scotland Grant and Loan is a separate Scottish Government scheme for homeowners. You do not need to get benefits. You must own an existing home in Scotland and live in it as your only or main home. Landlords use a different scheme, the Private Rented Sector Landlord Loan.

• Heat pumps, heat network connections and biomass boilers: a grant of up to £7,500, plus an optional interest-free loan of up to £7,500.
• Insulation and other energy efficiency measures: a grant of up to 75% of the combined cost, to a maximum of £7,500, with an interest-free loan for the rest.
• Remote rural, island and off-gas rural homes: an extra £1,500 on both the heating and the energy efficiency grants.
• Glazing, insulated doors and solar thermal: loans only. Glazing loans are for replacing single glazing, not existing double glazing.

Funding is first come, first served, and runs until it is used up or the financial year ends. You cannot start work until you have the funding offer in writing, and it cannot be paid after the event. See Home Energy Scotland Grant and Loan for the current amounts and how to apply.

ECO4 in Scotland

ECO4 works the same way in Scotland as in England and Wales. Energy suppliers fund it under rules set by government, Ofgem administers it, and it runs until 31 December 2026. It does not cover Northern Ireland. You can qualify in two ways:

• Benefits route. Someone in the household gets a qualifying benefit, such as Universal Credit, Pension Guarantee Credit or Housing Benefit. Ofgem lists the full set on its homeowners and tenants page.
• LA Flex route. Your Scottish council declares your household eligible, for example because household income is under £31,000 or someone has a health condition made worse by living in a cold home. Each council adds its own criteria.

Your home generally needs to be in EPC band D to G. Tenants need their landlord's permission, and private-rented homes usually cannot get a boiler-only replacement under ECO4. A survey decides what is funded, so a new boiler is never guaranteed.

Scottish councils publish their LA Flex rules in a statement of intent. Some wrote theirs to end in spring 2026, before ECO4 was extended. City of Edinburgh Council, for example, said its scheme would close from April 2026 (Edinburgh ECO4 Flex), so ask your council whether it is still issuing declarations.

Reliant Energy Solutions Ltd is an ECO4 installer. We survey, install and submit the work, and we are paid by the energy supplier, not by households. We are not government, Ofgem or an energy supplier. Read the ECO4 scheme guide, the LA Flex scheme guide, or ECO4 with Universal Credit. You can check your EPC rating first. Ofgem's ECO page has the scheme rules.

How the schemes differ, and which to try first

The three schemes have separate funding, rules and applications.

• If someone in your home gets a passport benefit, is 75 or over with no working heating, or has a DS1500 or BASRiS form, call Home Energy Scotland first. Warmer Homes Scotland usually covers the whole cost, and the same adviser can tell you about the grant and loan.
• If you own your home, do not get benefits and can pay part of the cost, the Home Energy Scotland Grant and Loan is the likely route.
• ECO4 has different qualifying rules, so check it if you do not meet the Warmer Homes Scotland criteria but get a qualifying benefit or can get an LA Flex declaration. It ends on 31 December 2026.
• Tell each adviser or installer about any other application, so two schemes do not survey the same work.

Sources: Warmer Homes Scotland, Home Energy Scotland Grant and Loan and GOV.UK Boiler Upgrade Scheme.